Elegy of the DEAD
by zerohour20xx
Summary: When the world changes for the worst, people can only do their best to survive. People such as Naruto Uzumaki who wakes up to a world that had been plunged into Hell, and a group of teens and a single adult will see horrors that no one was meant to see.


Awake and DEAD

A/N: It seems that there are several crossovers that are starting to become very popular, one such is the High School of the Dead stories. It seems everyone jumped on the bandwagon as the anime was released but some of us have been reading the manga since back in 2007. I have liked a few of the released stories but mine will be a bit similar to two of my favorites. I am going to go the manga route rather than the anime route, you will see how it differs. I mean, I TRIED to watch the episodes but the English dub makes it seem like a fucking HENTAI movie with the stupid dialogue.

Understand that there will be some parts similar to Resident Evil and Dead Rising in this. RE is one of the best zombie franchises and some parts are just too good to pass up since I am writing a story with zombies in it and Dead Rising is a very interesting take on the zombie genre.

Also, I have gotten permission from Kid Klip to use the idea of SHINOBI so please, do not say that I stole the idea.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Highschool of the Dead, Resident Evil, or Dead Rising.

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_Death... There is not a man alive that does not fear the day that his time on earth runs out. Some are lucky enough to live a full life to their dying day while the unlucky ones have to face that day prematurely. But...what if the battle between life and death became a literal battle. What if the dead began to rise again? This is one such story...this is our story._

- Elegy of the Dead -

A noise blared in the ears of a young adult of about late high school age. He appeared to be about a few inches short of six feet tall in height and on his face were unusual marks, whiskers in fact, but they alone did not take away from his piercing blue eyes or spiky blond hair. He noticed that he was in only a hospital gown and covered in blood, who the blood belonged didn't matter with the fact that he couldn't remember why he was in this...hospital? He was able to find a full outfit but it lacked a shirt. The pants were black and seemed to be made of a very strong material that would resist far more than the normal wear and tear while the boots he had on had what seemed like a metal bottom and tip but it was too light weight for that to be right. Making one last look around the "hospital room", the teen noticed that there was a file on a nearby desk.

_Subject name: Naruto Uzumaki_

_Designation: Demon Eyes_

_ID No.: 012607_

_Diagnoses: When admitted, patient was suffering from multiple compound fractures, 6 broken ribs, internal bleeding, chakra exhaustion, and several stab wounds. In a normal patient, he would have bled out long before getting him on the table. After trying to fix the injuries using both normal and chakra-based methods, was forced to resort to the last vial of youki. Due to patient's earlier exposure to youki, the injection was well received and the results began immediately. _

_Note that the tattoo on the patient's shoulder is a storage seal holding many supplies and is not to be altered under orders from SAGE Jiraiya._

"Naruto...Uzumaki? Is that my name?" Naruto took a look at his shoulder and saw the tattoo that the file mentioned with the numerals "IX" on his right shoulder. " That's me alright, at least from what the report says. What the hell happened to me that caused the injuries that are written here? Things just don't seem to make sense, not to mention I have no idea what chakra or youki is."

Naruto took a final in-depth look around the room when he noticed several jars that contained balls of different colors. "The labels say these are...Soldier pills, Blood pills, Food pills? Well they might be useful so I can't leave these behind, not like anyone is going to miss a few of these jars." Naruto put the jars aside for the moment as he continued to search the room.

While searching the top drawer of the desk, he found a gun that was secured to the underside. What he pulled out triggered a memory as he pulled the gun out of it's holster. "Beretta 92G-SD firing the 9mm round." Naruto's finger pressed the clip release. "Specific model holding fifteen rounds." He pushed the clip back into the gun. "M3 Tactical light and laser attached and possible to attach a scope as well." His thumb moved across the side of the gun, flipped the decocking device on the side of the gun and slid it into it's holster that he had attached to the side of his pants. Inside the drawer was a few boxes of the 9x19mm NATO rounds, definitely not a civilian's ammo, and a few filled extra clips that were secured to the underside of the desk like the gun had been. The ammo would be too much to just carry until his mind went back to the file. "Where was that line. Okay...my tattoo is a 'seal' holding supplies?"

As Naruto's hand touched the tattoo, he received another flash of memories. "Seals, created through the use of Fuuinjutsu, have many properties. The common seal is a storage seal that is normally applied to a scroll. Through the use of a sealing array, blood, and chakra the seal can be applied and used." The memory came with a sealing array that he identified as a storage seal. When the image of a scroll passed through his mind, he remembered that there was one in the room. After a bit of searching, he found the scroll and saw that it already had a storage seal applied. "Well, that makes things easier."

Naruto went back to the cabinet he had found the pills in and grabbed the rest of them as well as all the medical supplies he could find in the room, it was just something inside him that told him to be prepared for a currently unknown situation at all times, constant vigilance, one could say. He put the supplies and the boxes of ammo onto the seal and hoped this work as all he had to go by was a bit of a memory and a hunch. "Lets hope this works. **Fuuin**." The word set off a puff of smoke and the items had disappear, he could only guess into the seal. Once the sealing was done, he placed the scroll into one of the many pockets that were on his pants along with the extra clips he had found.

As Naruto walked out of the room he saw that the source of the noises earlier was an alarm as he noticed the flashing lights that filled the hallway, the noise having long ended. _"Uzumaki-san."_ The voice pulled Naruto's attention and his hand quickly pulled the Beretta out of the holster and readied it to be fired. _"Do not be alarmed, Uzumaki-san, I am the artificial intelligence for SHINOBI known as Mito. Follow the arrows on the floor, they will lead you to the control center of this base. Be careful, there are intruders moving to your position. Video records show that only damage to the target's head will cause damage."_

The voice didn't alleviate any of Naruto's nervousness but he had little choice but to follow what this Mito had told him. "Got it, just tell me if there are any of these intruders that get near my path." Naruto's left hand moved to the M3 light attached to his Beretta and tweaked with the settings until it was on the laser-sight setting.

"_Understood, Uzumaki-san. Now please, follow the arrows on the floor."_ Soon, the floor was lightly illuminated by red arrows as well as the side walls that had similar displays. As Naruto rounded the first corner, he came face to face with something most had only seen in their nightmares or in horror movies. On the floor was a body being eaten by what he could only call...a zombie. _'Shit, that explains why Mito said they could only be hurt by a shot to the head.'_ Naruto aimed the sight on the head of the zombie and fired a single bullet into the undead abomination. Once the zombie fell over to the side, Naruto stomped on it's face, causing blood, bone, and brain matter to fly in all directions.

When he looked at the victim of the zombie, he saw that the man was wearing a green flak jacket with the word CHUUNIN on it as well as what he assumed was the man's name. Naruto undid the flak jacket the man was wearing and put it on himself. He checked the body for any other goods but only found a silencer attached to a Beretta 92 the man had attached to his own pants and a radio that was in the man's ear. "Sorry about this buddy but I think I'm going to need these more than you will." Naruto unscrewed the silencer from the man's gun and put it on his own, thankfully the two guns had a similar barrel size since they were a similar model. Once the silencer was in place, Naruto put a bullet between the eyes of the man. "Can't let you come back as one of these things." Naruto placed the radio into his own ear and soon heard Mito's voice come from the earpiece.

"_I apologize for not being able to forewarn you, Uzumaki-san, the sensors were set to react to movement. I will adjust the sensors to detect heat and sound as well as motion."_

"Got it, make sure I get a little bit of warning before hand. These intruders aren't among the living, I know it isn't scientific but these things are the living dead...zombies." Naruto slowly walked through the halls, his gun pointed down in a ready position. His body seemed to remember things that his mind couldn't. He couldn't remember ever pulling a trigger, but his body did. Walking through the hallways and following the arrows, using the silenced pistol to take down any of the undead he came across with a single bullet to the head and he would regularly check those that had the flak jackets on for any supplies they might have on them. By the time he had reached what Mito had told him he reached the final hall, Naruto had found several scrolls marked as ammo, several dog-tags, and a pouch that held several kunai. Naruto opened the door and found himself in a long corridor.

"_Uzumaki-san, watch out! The defense system is still activated and isn't recognizing you." _Naruto wondered what the urgency was for until a single laser passed along the middle of the wall and forced him to roll under it. As the laser reached the end of the hallway, two more activated and formed something of a triangular grid. Naruto pushed himself forward and quickly turned around. As the laser came closer to him, Naruto ran along the wall and leapt towards the lasers and began to twist his body to avoid the grid. Naruto hoped that this was the last thing but as the lasers reached the end again, they became a total of six lasers that were now moving around. _'Shit!'_ Naruto quickly ran to the end opposite of the lasers, the grid not far behind him, ran up the wall and pushed off the top of the wall to just barely avoid the grid. Thankfully the grid did dissipate this time. The door in front of him made the sound of several heavy duty locks being unlocked before it opened. As Naruto walked in, the door slammed shut and locked itself.

As Naruto looked around and saw that the room was abandoned of any person, living or otherwise, except for it being filled with computers. _"Welcome Uzumaki-san, this is the command center of SHINOBI base 107." _On the largest screen a face of a woman with red hair appeared. _"I am the A.I. for the SHINOBI task force of the SAT, Mito Uzumaki, and I am based from the memory of your great-great-grandaunt, Naruto-chan, but please, call me obaa-chan."_

Naruto couldn't help but give a small smile. "Its nice to meet you, obaa-chan. I don't know if we have met before though...I can't really remember much up until waking up a little while ago." Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his hand, a sheepish grin on his lips.

Mito had a slight frown on her lips and several other screens around her came to life as files appeared from a mainframe.

Name: Naruto Uzumaki

Age: seventeen

Height: 5' 10"

Weight: 140 lbs

Mother: Kushina Uzumaki

Father: Classified

The rest on the file was blacked out completely. _"Unfortunately, nearly all the information on you has been deemed classified. The only way to get the information would be from a direct source such as someone you worked with. I would suggest your team leader Kakashi Hatake or SAGE Jiraiya. Those two have the most missions cross referenced with you so I assume they would know you the most."_

Naruto smiled as he talked with Mito, she was the closest he had to family that he could currently remember_._ "Obaa-chan, I want you to flush all 'intruders' into the hallways and lock all the doors. Is there a way to activate similar defense systems around the base like the one I encountered in the hall just a moment ago?"

"_Lock down has been initiated. Activating laser defenses...failed. It seems that the necessary security boxes that are required to activate the base-wide defenses have been deactivated for . I can show you where the security boxes are but first you should head here." _On the screen, a map appeared and a red dot appeared on a nearby room. _"If you can get into the room, I can get you outfitted with some basic supplies from the lockers in the room. You won't have to worry about the security systems attacking you as I have just put you back into active duty with complete access to any area of this base."_

Naruto gave a nod and gave his Beretta a quick check before walking out the door. As he left the corridor that lead to the control center, Naruto saw that the zombies had begun to search more actively. One thing he had noticed was that the undead couldn't actually SEE him, that they reacted more to sound than anything else as they would run into walls at times. It was rather easy to take out the undead one-by-one but when they were close together and noticed noise, they would start into a frenzy in search of the source.

Bullet after bullet left the chamber of Naruto's silenced pistol and into the skulls of his targets without them ever being alerted due to the weapon being silenced. As Naruto neared the Storage/Locker room that Mito had shown him, he made a mistake...he bumped into a body that came around a corner. By hitting the body in surprise, Naruto's fingers twitched and a round fired from his pistol into the floor. While the gun made nearly no sound, the bullet hitting the wall did. The zombies quickly turned to the noise and Naruto headed to the door. "Shit shit shit. Obaa-chan, unlock the door ASAP and lock it as soon as I make it in."

Firing a few shot of his silenced pistol at the zombies, he ran straight for the door at the end of the hall. Once he safely made it in and the door locked behind him, he was grabbed by a CHUUNIN zombie. Forced to work at close range, Naruto kicked it back and used a kunai to hack at the zombies throat until it's head fell from it's body. Naruto put a few bullets into the body of the fallen zombie just to be sure that it was dead before relaxing. "Okay obaa-chan, I got to the locker room. What now?"

"_Check the lockers for supplies, one that you need to check is the locker for the JOUNIN leader of the base since his locker has the proper protection that you will need since you really have nothing except a pair of pants and a CHUUNIN flak jacket. Take everything that you can find and seal what you aren't going to use right now into your scrolls. The security box is in the JOUNIN's locker. I'll lead you to the next one after you finish in here."_

Naruto went over to each and every locker and checked through their contents once Mito released the electronic locks. In the lockers were several sets of the standard uniforms for SHINOBI members and about half had CHUUNIN flak jackets. Among the other things in the lockers was a total of six hundred thousand yen, more bottles of the "pills", more clips, and extra ammo. When he got to the JOUNIN's locker, he grinned at the sight of the armor inside. Inside was what Mito had told him was a "Chakra-conductive mesh shirt", a Kevlar under-jacket, a blue short sleeved shirt, black pants with an inner-layer of the chakra-conductive mesh, but what he was the happiest to find was a good pair of socks as up until this point he had been walking uncomfortably in the boots. Naruto dressed into the clothes and put the flak jacket over the blue shirt. "It could be better color but it will do until I can find something orange." Naruto then reached into the JOUNIN's locker and flipped the switch inside the security box. There was one last thing that Naruto noticed in the JOUNIN's locker and that was a secured lock-box built into the bottom of the locker.

"_That's the first one, the next one is in the bio-lab. The labs are on the next floor down but unfortunately the stairway is completely blocked by the zombies. I suggest you head to the armory first. It is just past the other door in this room. It appears that the hallway there is clear and the sensors in the room are picking up a possible survivor but the cameras are not functioning in that room. Be careful."_

As Naruto walked out the second door in the room the door closed and locked. It seemed what Mito said had been true as Naruto couldn't see any trace of a zombie. What did put Naruto on guard was a trail of blood. Readying his silenced Beretta 92G-SD, he opened the door that the trail of blood led into and walked away from the doorway as it opened. On the floor was a man in a CHUUNIN flak jacket bleeding from several open wounds on his body. "You...I see you got out of the infirmary safely. Come close, I don't have too much time left before I either bleed out of turn into one of _them_." Naruto quickly got to the man's side, not yet putting his pistol away. "These _things_, we had no chance against them. By the time we understood what they were, we were already too late. Whatever _they_ really are, they carry some kind of pathogen that only affects those bitten by the bastards. Incubation in a normal person is several minutes if the person is killed by _them_ after the bite, otherwise its immediate upon death. For us SHINOBI though, it appears it takes hours for it to affect us, giving us enough time to fight back and do our duty before we go peacefully." The CHUUNIN couched up a bit of blood. "To think, all of this started with a car accident outside the base. We worked as quickly as we could to help the people but they were already infected and had become _them_. They overrun us and we were unable to get the main door closed. It didn't take to long with _them_ swarming for our numbers to dwindle down...I'm probably the last living SHINOBI in this base other than you. Listen, I want you to put me down before I become one of _them_. Let me pass with some dignity. Take my Bakuhatsu fuda with you, you can never have enough ordinance. Take them along with my fuda pack, a lot of us SHINOBI carry different types of fuda and there have been rumors of some kind of merchant that sells them along with other things. Good luck on whatever it is your doing kid, stay alive." As the last bit of life was about to leave the man's eyes, a shot rang out through the room.

"Dammit! As soon as I wake up, the whole fucking world goes to hell!" Trying to just barely contain his temper, Naruto grabbed the man's pack that was on his hip. Inside were ten cards that had a seal array on them with a red border around the edge of the card. Naruto secured them to his hip in a way that they would not move unless he was ready for them to. Nothing of interest was in the armory other than a few standard issue pistols which he sealed away just in case. "Obaa-chan, how exactly are these Bakuhatsu fuda used?"

A screen in the armory came to life and Mito's face appeared on the screen. _"Quite simple, Naru-chan. When chakra is applied to the card, it starts a fifteen second delay before the card explodes. If you apply it to a surface when you add chakra to it's blank side, it will perfectly adhere to where it is placed and alter it's shape to compliment where it was set. Also, Fuuin Fuda can have extended delays or be set to be activated only remotely with a handseal. From the seals on the card you have, I would assume it is a remote activation but be careful the first time you use them just in case."_

Naruto checked the gun of the man he had put out of his misery to find that it had a silencer. Once he saw that, he quickly put the silencer on his normal Beretta 92 so that he now had two silenced weapons. He moved back into the locker room, his guns ready as. "Obaa-chan, keep the second door open so I have room to retreat if I need to. Open the first door."

Within a few moments, the once heavily locked door was opened to reveal several zombies. Bullets shot out from the barrels of the two guns, using more than just head shots. This was not only revenge for the good men that had died but it was therapy of sorts. Bullet after bullet left the chamber until all that could be heard was clicks from the now empty guns. In front of Naruto, all but one zombie was dead but this one was crawling. With a firm stomp to the head, all movement ceased. "Now that that is done, lead me to the bio-lab, obaa-chan." Before leaving the locker room, Naruto reloaded the two clips and got his other clips ready for when he headed them but he would remember to collect more as he went on.

- Elegy of the DEAD -

Naruto reached the stairway to the lower floor and saw exactly what Mito had warned him about, the entire stairway was literally filled with _them _as they were shoulder to shoulder. This would definitely have been a problem with just his Beretta pistols, they would have overran him in no time that way. Luckily, the Bakuhatsu fuda that he had been given by the CHUUNIN before he died would work perfectly here if used correctly. He would meld them to the kunai that he had and throw two into those in front of him, two into ones in the middle, and two into ones at the bottom of the stairs. He would take out the ones near him and the ones at the bottom of the stairs first and then the ones in the middle once the ends had been taken care of. Naruto got another idea though when he saw that the stairs were not that well reinforced. If he took out the side of the stairs, that would make it so _they_ couldn't get up to him as he finished them off.

Naruto embedded two of the melded explosive kunai into the side of the first staircase as well as into the bodies of two of _them_. He waited fifteen seconds for them to explode and grinned when they didn't, these were the remote detonation fuda that Mito had told him about. Naruto put a single hand into the seal that Mito had shown on the screen, his index and middle finger pointing out while the rest were folded into a fist. Using the bit of control he had learned since waking up, the seal caused a reaction in the fuda and the four exploded.

The first set of stairs mostly crumbled with the explosion and most of _them _in front of Naruto were blown to pieces along with the shrapnel from the kunai. The few stragglers in front of him went down with a few shots to the head. Naruto stood out over the railing and looked down at the now frenzied zombies, _they_ had reacted to the sound of the explosions and were now attacking each other, disoriented from the loud noise of the explosion and having been compacted so tightly together. All the Naruto needed to do was drop two more of the fuda into the mass of _them_ and he would only have a few left to pick off with his pistols. Naruto threw two melded fuda kunai into two of _them_ and put his hand into a half-ram seal, causing the fuda kunai to explode. About a dozen of _them _ were left and were taken care of after Naruto jumped to the lower set of stairs. After dispatching _them_, Naruto noticed a knife stabbed into one of _them_ that he had taken out. It was a combat knife with an eight inch blade that was serrated for the last two inches. It was dangerously sharp and Naruto could immediately see the uses.

Through the sealed door, Naruto saw a surprising lack of _them_ in the hallway. "Must not have been able to get here yet, the sealed door probably kept _them_ out." His voice low just in case there were any of _them_ that had been infected hosts for whatever disease they had that caused this. Naruto holstered his normal Beretta 92 and had both hands on his Beretta 92G-SD.

Down the hall and following the way the arrows directed, Naruto reached the bio-lab. Inside, he saw several freshly killed bodies, the blood not yet congealed. The bodies were bloodied but there wasn't the mutilation that he had seen _them_ cause on a victim. From the lab coats he figured these were the scientists that worked in this lab. As he looked around the lab he noticed that it appeared that there was some kind of medical procedure that had taken place in here, and a bloody one at that...maybe an infected? Well, Naruto got his answer as he heard footsteps, not shuffling but steady steps.

Naruto looked t where the footsteps were coming from and came face to face with a living SHINOBI member other than himself, at least from what he had figured out thanks to Mito. The man wore a similar look to the CHUUNIN bodies he had come across except for his flak jacket which bore JOUNIN instead but there was something wrong about him, the blood on his jacket was a big red flag to Naruto as well as the pools of black that were his eyes. "Well well well, what do we have here? A little lost lamb...or should I say a little fox? Will you blood be just as red as those doctors? Bwahahahahah!"

The maniacal laughter really got Naruto on edge, he could feel his blood pumping through his body as well as something else. He had felt and used that chakra thing a little bit but now...now he could feel it coursing through his body along with his muscles tightening to be used at a moment's notice. Naruto quickly removed the silencer from his Beretta 92G-SD and gripped it in his right hand while the combat knife he picked up earlier was in a reverse grip in his left. The JOUNIN pulled out a bloody tanto and charged at him. In a fraction of a second, Naruto just barely deflected the weapon with his combat knife and got a clean shot into the man's stomach. Figuring that this would be all that the JOUNIN would be able to take, Naruto moved back and away from him only to be shocked when the man sliced at him again with the weapon. The sound of hardened steal echoed again through the bio-lab. Naruto tried to put several more bullets into the man but it seemed not a single bullet got through the armored clothing that was SHINOBI standard which made his pistol useless in this fight and would only harm him in his efforts. He returned the pistol to it's holster and instead pulled out a kunai in a forward grip. He hand no idea what to do and was beginning to worry.

**'Naruto-nii...'**

The unusual voice echoed in Naruto's head that he was shocked for a moment and just barely dodged the blade again, this time the blade drew his blood on his left arm but thankfully only a nick. Naruto could feel his senses heighten rapidly as he bent his knees as a growl emanated from his throat, something that surprised him. His focus narrowed in on certain areas of the man that would not be protected as well and would be kill zones. There was a warm that filled him as he could literally feel his arm healing. Naruto charged at the man in a dead sprint as a black energy covered the man's sword as he took a swing at Naruto. Naruto shifted his weight over and out of the way of the downward slash and used his momentum to twist around and allow his foot to smash into the man's face and followed up with an attempted slash at the man's neck, causing a small line of blood to peek out of the skin.

Naruto pushed off away from the JOUNIN and with his back to the wall. He could see the anger on the JOUNIN's as the man charged at him with the intent to stab as the tanto was again covered in the black energy. Due to the man's rage, he was blinded of his surroundings and stabbed his weapon deep into the wall when Naruto dodged to the side. In a flash, Naruto embedded a kunai into the vulnerable flesh of the JOUNIN's neck and then he plunged his combat knife into the back of the skull at the suture of the parietal and occipital bones of the skull and into the brain. As Naruto pulled out the knife from the man's skull, the JOUNIN felt to the floor, no possibility of rising again. As Naruto searched the body, something he was getting used to since waking up, he found an undamaged wireless headset that wrapped around and went into his ear. He put that to the side as he checked more for anything on the body and found a key, reminding him of the lock-box in the now former JOUNIN's locker. Other than those two items, he found that the man had three scrolls in his flak jacket with one marked as ammo and the other two were unmarked, he put the three into what little room he had left in his pockets. As Naruto went over to the tanto embedded in the wall, he noticed after pulling it out that it had become incredibly dull andhad even begun to rust and was partially eaten away by something. Now that the searching was done, Naruto put the headset into his ear and turned it on.

"_This is Mito of SHINOBI base 107. I just received the activation of your headset..."_

"Its me, obaa-chan, the JOUNIN that had this on him...there was something weird about him as he had gone insane and killed the doctors that had been safe from _them_ but not from him. He was crazed and just recently killed the scientists on this floor. From the way it looks, they were trying to heal him when something snapped in him as _they_ never stepped foot on this floor past the sealed door to the lab sector."

There was a silence over the line until Mito's voice returned. _"I understand, Naru-chan. I've blacklisted him as a NUKENIN and his status as eliminated. The security box should be on the far wall but I suggest you get a vial of blood from the former JOUNIN captain of the base for later analysis. Your next and last target is in the tech-lab on the same floor. There is also some technology in the tech-lab that you should take and seal away some extras of."_

"Got it, obaa-chan." Naruto looked around the room for a syringe, a needle, a vial, and a cap for the vial. Once he had found that, he went back to the body only to see that it was up once again or at least was trying to get up. _'What the hell is he...'_ Without a second thought, Naruto put his hand into a half-ram seal and caused the Bakuhatsu fuda that had melded to the kunai that was stabbed into the JOUNIN's neck to explode, completely destroying the head and the upper portion of the torso. _'Note to self, make sure whatever you kill stays dead.' _Naruto drew blood from the arm of the destroyed body and then transferred the blood to the vial. As he put the vial away in his now very filled pockets, Naruto pulled out his Beretta 92G-SD. Once Naruto flipped the switch in the security box, he headed out the door and followed the arrows down to the tech-lab.

Once he got to tech-lab, he pulled one of the many unused scrolls with a storage seal already on it and sealed all of the scrolls mark as ammo into it to save up room in his pockets, he would organize them more once the last security box was activated. The tech-lab was filled with different kinds of wonders and amazing things.

"_There are a few things that you need to grab in here, Naru-chan. First is the finished prototype for the satellite smartphone to be used by all SHINOBI members. It will only have the most urgent of emergency numbers built into it at first but the GPS system on the phones have all the SHINOBI bases, supply caches, and safe houses. It's protected by a seal array that prevents damage or interference. Make sure you take all of the copies of them as well as the headsets. Your headset will have a permanent connection with me so no matter where you head to, you will be able to communicate with me. The headset also has a connection to the phone so calls can be made and taken without needing to grab the phone. That's all that this lab has that would be useful so seal those away, activate the security box, and come back here."_

A sigh echoed through the room when Mito finished. "I got it. Just make sure that my route back to the Control Center is safe and begin sealing the entrances and exits to the base so when we start the defenses, all of _them_ will be taken care of." Naruto took the last of his empty storage scrolls and sealed the tech into them but kept one of the phones out for himself.

After activating the final security box, Naruto quickly headed out of the tech-lab only to freeze. Blocking his way to the stairway was some sort of mutated _thing_ that was pulsing with a black energy. It was formed from several different bodies that had been melded at the torso with distorted faces appearing on this _thing's_ body while the true head was something more like a mouth that leaked blood. The lower half though...it was almost human except for the bulkiness and had on a pair of pants that was nearly ripping at the seams. There was something familiar about it when Naruto noticed the burn marks on the pants and the lower torso._'This thing still isn't dead? I fucking blew its head and upper torso off so what the hell is keeping this thing alive?' _Naruto was thankful that it hadn't noticed him at the moment and pulled out his pistol, this time the thing didn't have all the armor to protect it. His relief was only for a moment as the _thing_ began to sniff at the air and then turned straight at him.

"**Prey...youki...kill...eat...absorb...FOOD!"** The _thing_ charged at Naruto with it's intent declared in that sickening voice.

_They_ had surprised him, _he_ had alarmed Naruto, now this _thing_ chilled him to the bone. He could feel it deep inside himself, the urge to run as fast and as far away from this _thing_ as possible but that wasn't all.

**'Naruto-nii, you aren't alone in this. Remember me, remember that I have always been there with you through thick and thin.'**

A voice echoed through his mind as the world slowed down to a near halt. "Who...are you? What is this voice?" Was he going crazy? Were these things simply part of his delusion and that he had been in a mental hospital? Was he losing a grip of his sanity?

**'Wake up Naruto-nii, that thing isn't going to just let you get away now that it's got you in it's sights. You need to remember just who you are...what WE are.'**

The voice was so familiar, like something from a long forgotten memory that was just out of reach. A memory slowly came to the surface and to his recollection.

- Elegy of the DEAD -

A young blonde boy of only six years old sat down in a corner as he watched all of the others spar, from children his own age to adults. He had tried, really he had, but they told him that a tool like himself wasn't some_thing_ that should be allowed to walk with a leash, that he was a danger but a good weapon. He had tried to spar with one of the children his own age but... The boy felt something touch his shoulder and when he looked up there was a beautiful woman with long red hair looking down on him with a gentle smile. "Kaa-chan..."

The mother of the boy picked him up and sat him down in her lap. "Come on and tell your kaa-chan just why my little boy is crying and all alone? Come on, Naru-chan."

Tears slowly poured from young Naruto's eyes as he began to tell her what had happened, how all of the other people had refused to let him spar, saying that he was a tool and a weapon. He could tell that his mother was beginning to get mad as she had this warm red glow that was covering her. "Kaa-chan, why is there a red glow around you and why is it warm?"

The red glow disappeared from the mother's body as a smile found it's way back to her lips. "That, my dear Naru-chan, is my youki. Only special people like us has this kind of power and that's why you feel warm around mine, most other people wouldn't be able to handle feeling it. You though, are even more special than you kaa-chan though. You have something that is a part of you along with your youki that will help you. Do you remember him?"

A blinding smile lit up Naruto's face. "Of course I remember..."

- Elegy of the DEAD -

"...Kyuubi. I remember now." Now Naruto remembered that warm feeling that he had earlier, his youki, though that didn't mean he remembered how to use it again as he didn't even know how to properly use his chakra yet. _'Please Kyuubi...I need your help.'_ From the other side of a link that he could feel, he heard an excited laugh that was followed by a rush of energy as his body was coated in a red energy like that of his mother in his memory. The world soon sped up to a normal speed. As the _thing_ got closer, Naruto drew his arm back and planted a hard punch into the _thing's_ gut, stunning the _thing_. This gave Naruto the time he needed to make it for the stairway though the _thing _was soon on his tail. As he pass through the doors to the stairway, Naruto contacted Mito. "Obaa-chan, seal the lower doors in the stairway, there is some _thing_ coming after me. Start the defenses in the lab section hallway and isolate it in there."

At the moment that the doors began to close, the _thing_ was getting closer. The laser defenses started a second to late as the doors slammed into the _thing's _neck and the lasers severed the lower torso, turning the lower torso into tiny bits. Naruto holstered his pistol and instead pulled out two kunai into a reverse-grip and stabbed them into the top and underside of _it's_ "head".

**'Naruto-nii, absorb it's corrupted youki. That's what keeps bringing it back to life.'**

That little input of info was very important. The red youki surrounding Naruto flowed through the two kunai and into the _thing_. As the red youki began to travel back into Naruto, it was accompanied by a black-and-purple youki that came from the creature that was soon turned attacked by his own youki and was purified for his own use as it fully receded into him. With a youki-powered kick, Naruto push the _thing_ behind the sealed door and it was completely severed into pieces by the laser defenses.

- Elegy of the DEAD -

As Naruto entered into the Command Center, he could hear the door behind him seal itself. "Obaa-chan, begin the laser defenses of the entire base and purge it of _them_. Make sure that none remain, we'll need to sterilize this base should we need it in the future." Mito didn't even reply to him as the bases defenses came on-line. While Naruto was waiting for the defenses to finish, he pulled out all of his items and scrolls and put them out on the large table in the room that was probably used for maps or something. He had around thirty scrolls after he had finished all of the searches and activating the security boxes. About half of them were filled with ammo, a few with clothes, one or two with weapons, one with the tech, and unused scrolls that had no markings. One of the scrolls had contained sealing supplies so he quickly sorted his items with a single scroll for ammo though it would be used to seal different types of ammo as the ammo scrolls he had found on the bodies and in the lockers had 9mm bullets, 12 gauge shotgun shells, and a few other types that he didn't immediately recognize. He sealed each type into a single scroll into different seals for each box of ammo and them he would seal that scroll into the main ammo scroll and he did similar sealing for all the other items. He put the ammo scroll, the clothing scroll, the weapon scroll, the supply scroll, and the miscellaneous scroll into the five of the six scroll pockets that were on his flak jacket.

"_Naru-chan, all sensors have confirmed that all 'intruders' have been eliminated and the seals are cleaning up the mess. This base will be ready to use again in just a few moments. All research data is being backed up onto the main SHINOBI memory server. I've been trying to reach the other SHINOBI bases in the surrounding sectors but it seems that whatever is going on, they are also dealing with it as well. Before you leave, I want you to attach your smartphone to my console and I will transfer a copy of my programming to it so I have easy access to you."_

Naruto took his phone from out of his now very empty pockets and connected it to Mito's console. Within moments, the large screen dimmed and then Mito appeared on the smaller screen of Naruto's smartphone. _"Now lets get out of here, Naru-chan. We need to find out what is going on."_

"Sure thing, obaa-chan, but first I have to make a short stop to the locker room." When Naruto exited the Control Center, he was pleased to see that there was no trace of _them_ anymore and now this base was his. He headed down the hall to the locker room and went straight to the former JOUNIN's locker, his attention on the lock-box inside. It was attached to the bottom of the locker and to the side of it. As he unlocked the box, a smile appeared on his lips as he saw what was inside: a Winchester 1887 shotgun. "This is going to blow a lot of shit to pieces if I need to use it on _them_." Naruto used the strap attached to it to secure it so it could easily be readied or put away and then put four shells into the tubular magazine that was built into the shotgun and then a single shell into the chamber that was ready to be fired.

- Elegy of the DEAD -

It took a bit of time but Naruto soon reached the door to the garage. Since, according to Mito, all bases were many feet underground and shielded by layers of concrete, lead, and several other materials, Naruto was going to need to find a form or transportation.

"_Naru-chan, this first level contain the prototype and official-use vehicles. One that I think will work for you is just out of the experimental stages. It is similar to a semi-enclosed motorcycle that was loosely designed off of the old Quasar made in the United Kingdom but with enforced armor, seals, off-road capabilities, and other options for SHINOBI use. I'll open the door for it and the keys will be in the ignition."_

Off to his right, Naruto found a very interesting motorcycle. It must have had the original body and then the outer siding and the shielded front and back were added. Even though it was labeled as a motorcycle, it had very thick wheels with amazing set of treads that would be perfect for any terrain. The enclosure was armored with a powerful yet light metal and the vehicle itself would fit two people (Imagine a mix between a Quasar and a streamlined motorcycle that is both heavily altered and much thicker).

Naruto hopped into the vehicle through the window and saw that the body was much wider and sturdier than any normal bike and that the basic controls were similar to that of a motorcycle. One thing that was interesting was that the front dashboard had a space in it that looked like it was a perfect for the smartphone. Considering the two were prototypes, Naruto put his phone into the spot and connected it. As the phone connected with the vehicle, Mito came back onto the screen.

"_Is this to your liking, Naru-chan? The interesting thing according to the schematics is that this vehicle, code named Kuro, is able to be altered to have four wheels instead of the two specially designed wheels that are on right now. Now,the path up is completely clear due to the defenses that activated in here but one you leave, it could be rather difficult."_

Naruto put the keys into the ignition and started up the bike. Naruto in the Kuro went up several levels. "Heh, no problem, dattebayo! ...Why did I just say that?"

Mito let out a laugh that she couldn't hold in. _"It seems you inherited the Uzumaki family verbal tic, we all have them, including your mother."_

A grumble came from Naruto's lips as the doors on top floor opened up and then a second set. The two behind him closed as the third door opened. As he went up the ramp a final door opened and he found himself on the surface. As far as he could see from the hill that he had come out of was pure destruction.

- Elegy of the DEAD -

_I didn't know it then but this was the beginning of both an epic but horrible journey that would be taking place in this Hell but at least I would not be alone in it..._

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There is the end of my first chapter and it is already longer than any other chapter that I have done before. For those that are wondering in comparison to canon of HotD (by this I mean the manga), this starts starts several hours before and ends a few hours before the first encounter with _them_ at the school gate.

**In case anyone is curious about Mito, she is an A.I. that I based off of a mix of Red Queen from the Resident Evil movies and Hunnigan from Resident Evil 4. She takes a mixed role of her two inspirations as the Artificial Intelligence behind SHINOBI and as Naruto's partner throughout the story.**

In this story, Seal tags are more like a firm card that attach and shape to where they are placed once a bit of chakra is put into them.

Nukenin - Literal translation to: Fugitive ninja. Also labeled as Missing ninja or Missing-nin.

NUKENIN: A SHINOBI member who, regardless of village origin or status, chooses to abandon SHINOBI or has performed acts of treason. They are forever blacklisted and are marked in the RED SECTION of the Bingo Book. NUKENIN can be of any rank from GENIN to even ANBU so extreme caution is advised. For those that bring proof of a NUKENIN's death, a monetary reward is to be provided.


End file.
